NEW 6-INCH BREECH-LOADING RIFLE.
The latest experiments with large calibred rapid-fire guns were those of the Armstrong 36 and 70 pounder. The first piece differs materially from the new 33-pounder Hotchkiss; it is 4.724 inches in calibre, 14 feet 2½ inches length, and weighs 34 hundred-weight. It was fired with seven and a half pounds of powder ten times in forty-seven seconds, or at a rate six times faster than that obtained with the service guns of like calibre. The 70-pounder was fired with both twenty-five-pound and thirty-pound charges, at a speed of from eight to ten rounds per minute. In the latest mount for the 36-pounder the gun is supported on a rocking slide which pivots on transverse bearings, so that the piece moves only forward and backward on the slide; elevation and depression are given by a shoulder-piece attached to the slide, and the gun is secured at any desired angle with a clamp attached to the side of the slide.
This development of rapid-fire pieces opens anew the discussion as to the comparative values of large and small calibre guns. At the present stage of the question it is safe to say that, however necessary the large calibre may be in armored battle-ships and coast-defence vessels, its usefulness in thin-skinned, high-powered cruisers is questionable. Abroad, the long-range guns which constitute the primary batteries are being reduced in calibre, while the secondary batteries of rapid-fire guns are increasing so much in size that before the next sea-war a nearly uniform calibre of four or five inches will probably be established.
The reasons for these changes are not difficult to understand. In all sea engagements hereafter type will fight with type; that is to say, apart from the rôle which auxiliary rams and torpedo-boats may play, armored ships will oppose armored ships, and unarmored cruisers and gun-boats will, when intelligently handled, seek action only with vessels of similar character. To-day every unarmored ship afloat or under construction can be penetrated at the average fighting distance by a musket-bullet impelled with a little more than the ordinary velocity; and as there is absolutely no protection, it seems a mistake to arm such vessels with the unnecessarily large calibres now in use. Especially is this true when their employment is based mainly upon the remote assumption that such ships may have to attack fortifications. Smaller guns will do the work equally as well, if not better; for the greater intensity of fire secured by the certain action of a large number of easily handled small-calibred guns is surely more valuable than any probable advantage which might be derived from heavier projectiles fired under conditions that make their effectiveness doubtful.
Whatever may be said to the contrary by mere theorists, the difficulty of handling ordnance increases enormously as the calibres grow; and sea-officers, who alone are the proper judges, insist that the monster pieces of the present day are so unmanageable as to be nearly useless. Of course, where armor penetration is vital to success, heavy armaments must and will be employed; but when this factor need not be considered, a great many light guns, easily worked by hand, are the demands of the hour. The problem, fortunately, is nearer solution owing to the development now in progress; and when this is coupled with the rapidly increasing popularity of the 5-inch breech-loading all-steel rifle, our country notably may congratulate itself that ordnance is reverting to a plane which other nations mistakenly and at great cost abandoned, and which the United States can readily attain.
SHIPS OF THE MINOR NAVIES.
Early in September of this year there sailed from England for the East five Chinese war-vessels of the latest types: the Chih Yüan and Ching Yüan, fast cruisers; the King Yüan and Lai Yüan, coast-defence ships; and a torpedo-boat as yet unnamed. Though the squadron was commanded by Admiral Lang, a captain in the Royal Navy temporarily serving under the Chinese government, the other officers were mainly, and the crews were wholly, natives who had passed through English cruising and training ships. The Chih Yüan was commanded by Captain Tang, who had under him nine English and fifteen Chinese officers and one hundred and fifty men; the Ching Yüan was in charge of Captain Yih, and eleven English and fourteen Chinese officers, with the same complement; while the other ships were officered and manned much the same way. There was, it is true, an English fleet surgeon, but each ship had its native medical officer and two chief engineers, one of whom was a Chinese. “On leaving Spithead,” stated the Herald cable despatch, “the fleet will proceed direct to Gibraltar, thence to Port Said, where it will take in coal; it will stop at Suez, Aden, Colombo (where it will coal again), Singapore, Hong-Kong, Chefoo, and Taku, joining at this place the fleet already assembled under Admiral Ting, and replacing there many of the foreigners by native officers. The voyage is expected to occupy seventy-two days—fifty-two at sea and twenty in harbor—and during this time the crews will be thoroughly practised in torpedo, gun, and other drills. This, of course, will involve a deal of hard work, such as would try the endurance of English sailors, but the Chinamen will be allowed a plentiful supply of beef and beer.”
Modern cruisers and armed battle-ships requiring the highest intelligence to fight, torpedo-drills, beef and beer—and all for that outer barbarian whom our mobs murder just for a lark! Here is a lesson for Congressmen; here an example and a possible menace for this defenceless land.